As 150th commemorations of the battles of Manassas or Bull Run conclude, one local author’s new book looks ahead to the political aftermath of the Civil War.David Goetz, a well-known historian and Civil War tour guide who wrote Hell is Being a Republican in Virginia: The Postwar Relationship Between John Singleton Mosby and Ulysses S. Grant, will talk about his work during a free Book Talk at The Manassas Museum on Sunday, September 9 at 2 p.m.

The book tells the story of two unlikely allies who, at war’s end, put down their weapons and sought peace between the North and the South. Their 13-year post-war relationship, fueled by a mutual desire for peace and reconciliation, began when John Singleton Mosby, a Confederate hero, and Ulysses S. Grant, a Union hero and future President, built trust between themselves before moving on to the larger task of helping heal the nation.

In the book, Goetz also details Mosby’s role as a guerrilla chieftain in Virginia during the Civil War, the lives of both men during the early Reconstruction years, and what became of Mosby after Grant’s death in 1885 to his own in 1916.

“It is my fervent desire that you, dear reader, will also seek peace and reconciliation in your life and that our leaders will find ways to reconcile between themselves and follow the example of Grant and Mosby in healing our nation today and in the future,” Goetz writes.

Goetz, who has a professional background in public relations, sales and marketing, owns Mosby’s Confederacy Tours, is descended from the family of a Civil War chaplain, and is active in area Civil War associations. He is a U.S. Army veteran, and lives in Warrenton.

Hell is Being a Republican in Virginia: The Postwar Relationship Between John Singleton Mosby and Ulysses S. Grant is available at Echoes, The Manassas Museum Store. The September 9 Book Talk is free.